Closing Time
by akatsuki-chan
Summary: Remus's only acknowledgement was a curt nod, and Sirius, if he'd had less to drink and maybe a smidge more humility, might have been disappointed at Remus's obvious lack of interest in his flirting. But according to the alcohol he'd consumed, this was going swimmingly. AU


"Here!" James said, the arm wrapped around Sirius's shoulders suddenly yanking him to the left. They weaved, nearly colliding into a couple, a blonde with a nice rack hanging off the arm of a well-dressed man. Both of them gave the young men a nasty look.

"Sorry!" Sirius half said, half laughed, as James steered him through the door of what could be best described as a shit hole. "Really, Jamie?" he said. "I've been in nicer toilets."

The pub was small, and terribly lit. The only decoration was a horrifying looking head of a hog that was mounted above the bar, and the walls were a dark forest green that might have been nice once, before the paint had started peeling with age. To Sirius's surprise, however, the place was rather full despite it's less than appealing aesthetics. Almost every stool was taken, and the three tall tables crammed up against the dingy peeling walls were occupied. In the corner was a jukebox, and based on how old it looked, Sirius wondered if it was actually the first one ever built. It was currently blasting Journey's Don't Stop Believing while several patrons sang along.

"I'm not walking any further in that cold," James said. "I'll freeze my bollocks off! Besides, looks like this lot's having a good time." His friend straightened up, teetering slightly as he pulled off his glasses, which had fogged over from the change in temperature. Honestly, Sirius was impressed they were both still standing. They'd polished off over half a bottle of whiskey at the pub down the way, and had spent the last ten minutes wandering the streets of London singing ABBA songs at the top of their lungs.

"S'not like you'll need them soon anyway," Sirius said, clapping James on the back. They were out celebrating the end of James's freedom as they knew it. In a week, for reasons unfathomable to Sirius, the man was signing over his life to fiery redhead named Lily.

James looked around with a frown. "Did we lose Peter?" he said, realizing the stag party was short a member.

"He'll turn up eventually," Sirius said with a shrug, not particularly concerned. He wasn't overly fond of Peter. He was a bit of a twat in his opinion. The short chubby man was always showing up to their flat uninvited. James felt bad turning him away and they'd wind up stuck spending the night watching some boring film that Peter had brought, as if that was a fair exchange for him stuffing his gob with all their crisps and ice cream.

James shrugged and ran a hand through his messy dark hair, apparently too pissed to worry much about the fate of Peter, and together they pushed their way through the crowd and to the edge of the bar.

There were two bartenders handling the whole crowd, and it wasn't that surprising that it took James almost five minutes to catch the attention of one. A short, dumpy looking woman finished pouring a gin and tonic for the man two seats down and turned her eyes on them. Sirius didn't miss the way she looked the two of them over, first James, then him, or how her lips quirked into a Cheshire-like grin. She looked to be pushing forty. "What can I do you for, loves?" she asked, tossing her long brown ponytail over her shoulder.

"I'll take a whiskey sour," James said.

"Surprise me," Sirius added with a grin he'd been told by many was dangerously charming. He'd learned long ago that when a pub was busy, a little flirting with the bartenders went a long way. It was a good tactic to keep their attention coming back to you.

Four drinks and an hour later, Sirius knew he'd made the right decision. The pub had cleared out a bit, and he and James had been able to grab themselves some stools.

"Surprise me," James slurred at him, beaming like an idiot. "Never fails. Good thing you've got no intention of settling down any time soon. You can chat up bartenders for me once I'm a married man."

Sirius grinned. "Please, James, you're awful at it anyway. Mussing up your hair and telling a bird her eyes would compliment yours isn't exactly a mastery of wooing."

"Worked on Lils, didn't it?" James returned smugly.

"No. It didn't work the first time, or the time after that, or the time after that-"

James shoved his shoulder. "All right, I get it."

The bartender reappeared with a sly smile. "'Nother round?" she asked, the question aimed specifically at Sirius.

Truth be told, he'd have rather chatted up the other bartender. Doris was nice enough, and maybe even had been pretty twenty years prior, but she was aggressive and Sirius had always found himself attracted to more reserved people. Even now, as Doris shamelessly flirted, his eyes were following the movements of her pretty co-worker, who was pouring a cocktail with practiced ease.

Doris seemed to notice his attention had wandered and followed his gaze. "Ooooh," she said. "So that's your poison."

"What?" Sirius replied, snapping his focus back to her face.

"I can introduce you if you like," she said. "He bats left handed if you know what I mean." She waggled her eyebrows at him.

Sirius, now on what might as well have been drink number eight hundred and seventy two, and having never heard anyone use such a phrase, had absolutely no idea what she meant. So he stared blankly at her.

Doris tutted then turned to her coworker. "Remus, I'm going on break, take care of my friends here."

Remus. What an unusual name. Sirius was used to being the one with the unusual name. The other bartender glanced over his shoulder at her, and Sirius got his first good look at his face - he'd been busy and had his head down most of the evening as he'd focused on the drinks he'd been pouring. Hazel eyes narrowed as Doris disappeared. His hair was long enough that it brushed his collar, and Sirius realized he was far too fascinated when the young man pushed several lose strands behind an ear in obvious irritation.

Doris hadn't been completely off the mark. Sirius didn't exactly bat for the other team (yes, his drunken mind had finally worked out what she was trying to say about Remus) but he'd sub in every now and then. He appreciated beauty in either sex, and he hated being tied down by convention. In fact his parents' reactions when he'd been sixteen and brought a boy home for dinner still brought a grin to his face.

Finishing with the drink he'd been pouring, Remus slid it across the bar to a customer, before finally coming over to James and Sirius, who had both finished their drinks. "What'll you have?" he asked them, above the jukebox, which had begun blasting Van Halen. He wasn't altogether unfriendly, but he didn't smile at them the way Doris had either. He pulled a towel from his back pocket and started wiping down the bar as he awaited their orders.

James ordered another whiskey sour, and Sirius, confident in the inside information Doris had given him, put on his best charming grin and once again said, "Surprise me."

Remus stared at him, and if Sirius didn't know any better, he'd swear the bartender was trying to refrain from rolling his eyes. But Sirius did know better, so he ignored it.

James was given his drink first, and over the noise of Van Halen Remus called to Sirius. "Sweet or sour?"

Sirius's lips quirked. "Sweet."

Remus's only acknowledgement was a curt nod, and Sirius, if he'd had less to drink and maybe a smidge more humility, might have been disappointed at Remus's obvious lack of interest in his flirting. But according to the alcohol he'd consumed, this was going swimmingly.

After a moment Remus placed a martini glass in front of Sirius, and before Sirius could so much as call a thank you, he'd moved down the bar to take the order of another bloke.

He tried a sip of his drink and blinked in surprise. He had no idea what Remus had made him, but it tasted like chocolate and damn, it was good.

"All righ', kiddies, last call!" It was three hours later, and Doris was calling out an end to the night. Which was now morning. "You know the drill. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."

There was a collective groan from the few remaining patrons, Sirius and James included. James had his head down on the bar, and was waxing what he thought was poetic about Lily, though Sirius hadn't heard much beyond "hair as red as a sunset" and "eyes like emeralds" in the last ten minutes. Sirius had rested his chin in his palm and was watching Remus clean up behind the bar. The jukebox had finally gotten through everyone's requests and had stopped playing.

When Remus got into earshot, Sirius slurred, "So what do you want to know?"

Remus started slightly at being addressed, which was so unexpectedly cute that it made Sirius grin. "Pardon?" the bartender asked, pushing his hair from his eyes.

"About me," Sirius clarified.

Remus's hazel eyes fixed on him again, just like they had when Sirius had asked him to surprise him. Sirius's smile didn't fade. Let him stare.

"Was that an attempt at chatting me up?" Remus finally asked, quirking an eyebrow as he picked up his and James's empty glasses.

Slightly taken aback by the question, Sirius said, "Well, yeah. "

"Skin smooth as silk," mumbled James.

Remus snorted and shook his head, walking down the bar to the sink beginning to wash the glassware. Huh. That was not the reaction Sirius was expecting.

Sirius opened his mouth to call something else charming, but Doris appeared in front of them. "Sorry, loves," she said. "Time to go."

"But, Doris," Sirius protested. He hadn't gotten Remus to agree to go home with him yet. Or to even say more than ten words to him. He looked over at the back of him. It was a nice back. Attached to a nice arse.

Doris followed his gaze and grinned. "Gave you the brush off, did he?"

"You sure he's a ponce?" Sirius asked, since he couldn't imagine why else Remus wouldn't be falling all over himself to talk to him.

"Oh I'm sure," Doris said. "Once caught him and some bloke snogging each other's faces off in the alley. But you're gonna have to try to get into his trousers another night, sweetcheeks, because we're officially closed and I want to get out of here."

Sirius heaved a sigh and slid off the barstool, officially giving up when Remus disappeared into the back of the pub without so much as a glance in his direction. Maybe he had a boyfriend.

It took some maneuvering to get James off the stool and out of the door, which Doris held open for them, closing it and locking up once they were outside. James was practically deadweight against Sirius, and for the first time all night he wished Peter was there, at least to help drag him along the street as he searched for a cab.

"Come on, mate," Sirius grunted at his friend. "Help me out a little here." Maybe he should have kept a more of an eye on how much James was consuming instead of Remus's arse, but James was an adult, for fuck's sake, and they'd drunk plenty in their twenty four years on this earth. It wasn't Sirius's fault he suddenly couldn't handle it.

"I want Lily," James said helpfully.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get you back to Lily," Sirius muttered. "Who's probably going to murder me for the state you're in."

"Yay, Lily!" James replied, stumbling over a raised bit of sidewalk and losing what little balance he had to begin with. And with his arm wrapped around Sirius's shoulders and Sirius having his own compromised equilibrium thanks to the seven thousand drinks he'd consumed, they both start to pitch forward, fast making their way to the ground.

Their course was suddenly halted, and the full weight of James was relieved from him. Sirius looked over in confusion to see that their saving grace was none other than the elusive bartender, who had caught James from the other side.

"Where'd you come from?" Sirius asked in surprise.

Remus glanced at him, and helped haul James back into a more stable standing position. James swayed, but between Sirius's shoulder and Remus's hand on his elbow, he stayed up. "The alley." Remus hitched his head to the right, calling Sirius's attention to a small alley where there was clearly a side entrance to the pub.

"Hi!" James said cheerfully.

Remus gave him a bemused look that someone who had a lot of experience with drunkards wore. Sirius had seen many a bartender employ it in his day. "Hello," he replied to James.

"I'm getting married," James announced.

Sirius rolled his eyes, and was surprised as he noticed Remus's lips quirk into a smile. "Ah. So is this a stag party then?" the bartender said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," James said, before looking around with a frown as if he just remembered something. "Where's Peter?"

"We lost him hours ago, mate," Sirius reminded him.

"Let's go find Lily!" James said, still swaying as they stood there.

Sirius was just in the process of trying to figure out how to discreetly knock out James and give himself another chance at the bartender when Remus said, "Need help getting him to a cab?"

"Uh." Sirius blinked in surprise. "Sure. Thanks."

Remus nodded and put James's arm over his shoulders, and between the two of them, it wasn't difficult to shuffle him along the street.

Remus said nothing further and so Sirius took it upon himself to start a conversation.

"I'm Sirius Black, by the way," was his opener.

The bartender glanced over James's puffy black hair to meet his. "As in the adjective? Or the star?"

The question caught him off guard and he let out a bark of a laugh. No one had ever asked him such a thing. He'd had people spell his name as Serious, or ask him why the heck his parents would name him that, but Remus was the first person outside of his family who had ever recognized the name of the star without Sirius having to explain it.

"The star," he said.

"Interesting name," Remus replied.

Sirius was silent a moment, waiting for Remus to offer his own name. He didn't.

"And you are…?" Sirius prompted.

"I'm James," James piped up cheerfully from between them.

Sirius was going to kill him. "I know who you are, you drunkard," he said. "I was asking Re–" Bollocks. "Him."

"Doris told you my name, I see," Remus said, and Sirius couldn't tell if he was amused or annoyed.

"Yeah…." He said sheepishly. "I like it. It's different."

"Thank you."

Sirius spotted a taxi and almost ignored it in favor of prolonging the conversation, but Remus had apparently seen it as well, and he hailed it down before Sirius could come up with any kind of convincing reason not to.

Together they managed to help James into the back. Sirius didn't get in right away, turning to face Remus. "You want to come with?" he asked boldly, giving him his most charming of grins. "Just gotta drop this lush off with his unfortunate fiancé, then I'm free."

Remus definitely looked amused now. "No thanks."

Sirius couldn't remember the last time someone had actually turned him down. Two years ago? Three?

"You sure?" he tried again. He was bad with rejection. Didn't really understand it. "I swear you won't regret it."

Remus shook his head and dug into his pocket, surprising Sirius by extracting a pack of fags. "It's late," he said, tapping one out into his palm. "I'd best be getting home." He struck a match and lit the cigarette between his lips. He took a drag and exhaled before leaning over to peer into the cab. "Goodnight, James."

James mumbled an incoherent reply.

Remus straightened. Sirius's gaze was drawn to his lips as he took another drag of his cigarette. He found himself imagining those lips wrapping around something else entirely, and at once he decided this would not be the last he saw of Remus the bartender.

"See you around, Remus," Sirius said with a grin that promised trouble.

Remus's eyebrows raised and for a moment Sirius thought he might return the grin. Instead he said, "Goodnight, Sirius."

"Goodnight," he replied, getting into the cab.

"Time to go to Lily?" James asked.

"Yeah, yeah Jamie," Sirius said, watching Remus turn and begin walking away. "Time to go to Lily."


End file.
